Getting the dish on this off-menu treat
The Thai Islamic Noodle served up at Salad King is a ‘badly kept secret’
There’s something thrilling — and tasty — about ordering off-menu.
“There’s a sense of pride in knowing about those secret items,” says restaurateur Alan Liu, 40. “It makes people feel special.”
And you can tell they feel special, he says, when they pop into Salad King, arguably Toronto’s most famous Thai institution, wink at the wait staff and order the Thai Islamic Noodle — a dish that has been “off the menu,” so to speak, for several years.
As Salad King celebrates 25 years in business, this dish is recognized as the second-most popular offering of all time.
In July alone, customers, some introducing the “very badly kept secret,” Liu says, to friends not yet in the know, ordered about 2,900 plates of this creamy coconut milk Panang curry, which is splashed over more than a pound of thick rice noodles studded with veggies and a choice of shrimp, beef or chicken.
“The most fun is when someone comes in and they’re new,” Liu says — and they find out about it.
While staff won’t divulge the hidden menu item without prompting, no one at the lively, always-packed eatery has deliberately tried to keep it a secret.
Linda Liu, 68, Salad King’s matriarch, developed the dish long ago as a one-off daily special.
Based on a popular dish among southern Thailand’s large Islamic community, its flavours fit well with Salad King’s other classic recipes, such as golden curry and pad Thai made with tamarind, not ketchup.
The day it was offered, it sold well, Liu says, but no one really gave it much thought. Then, something interesting happened: “We took it off, but people kept on asking for it.”
Then demanding it. And its tastiness, like so many good things, spread by word-of-mouth.
Why has it never ended up on the menu?
Simple: Liu’s dad, Ernie Liu, 70, couldn’t figure out how to reconfigure the already overflowing menu to add another item. And he gave up trying, Liu says. “That’s the honest answer.”
Today, Salad King’s menu is an eclectic mix of dishes; mostly traditional Thai dishes, Liu says, but there are many offerings that date back to when the Liu family, new immigrants to Toronto, purchased a holein-the-wall by the same name in the Empress Hotel — a dive that existed across the street from the restau- rant’s current location at 340 Yonge St., which perches just above the Champs store north of Dundas St.
(The original restaurant crumbled along with the Empress Hotel in 2010 and Salad King’s new incarnation opened in 2011).
Items from that 1990s era include “chicken ball fried rice” and won ton soup, which may not be Thai, per se, but are still popular today.
Every time Liu tries to take an item off the menu — he once toyed with removing the popular 10-chili Orange Beef, presumably to make room for something new — customers protest, he says. “Everyone has a favourite dish.” And every dish is some- one’s favourite.
The Thai Islamic Noodle, with its pleasant sting of lime and rich, roasted reddish curry, is definitely one of mine.
It’s one of those steamy, aromatic dishes you could lose yourself in, praying you can keep on twirling languid, sweet bites of rice noodle around your fork forever ($12 with shrimp). And it’s a good time to visit Salad King.
To celebrate its 25th year in business, there are contests and giveaways, which include free Salad King for a year, which will be given away every day for 25 days, and one lucky diner can win Salad King for life.
The restaurant is also donating money to Second Harvest, and scholarships and food to its neighbour Ryerson University.
Salad King staff will also be driving a food truck around the city for 25 days starting Aug. 24.
“It’s all about giving back,” Liu says. Need something Sourced? Email mhenry@thestar.ca